


Limits

by tatooedlaura



Series: Life, Part 2 [35]
Category: The X-Files
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 18:52:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13060047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatooedlaura/pseuds/tatooedlaura
Summary: “I wonder when it’ll be time for us to get out of the damn car.”





	Limits

Everyone accepted MaNWalter, GrandmaNUncleSkimmer, AuntMaggieNUncleSkimmer, MaggieNWalter without much angst, the only one having an issue at all being Betsy but once Maggie told her she’d still be Uncle Skimmer’s best girl, she was perfectly fine as well.

It did make for an odd work environment, however, for the pair. The first meeting they had with Skinner, which he was 30 seconds late for claiming traffic, she couldn’t look him in the eye. Professional to a fault but still keeping her focus somewhere over his head to the point Skinner looked behind him several times, he finally called her on it, “Agent Scully, what’s the problem here?”

When she didn’t answer, Mulder jumped in, mind-meld with his soulmate intact as ever, “pretty sure she can’t look at you because she assumes that you were late because you and her mother were … well …” hands awkwardly making an innocent coupling motion, “yeah.”

“Both of you … get out before I put you on the next flight to the middle of Montana.”

Scully finally looked at him, embarrassed twinkle in her eye, “sorry, sir, I’ll be better next time.”

The frustration these two caused was astounding at time. Pointing to the door, “go.”

&&&&&&&&

The fun and games, however, dissipated soon enough, three deaths in Omaha taking up the next two weeks, followed by a little boy named Josiah Jennings whose case crushed both of them to a fine dust, souls bruised, hearts cracked wide.

They found him in the trunk of an old Ford Fairlane, at the back of a junkyard, inconspicuous in its grey color, ominous in its anonymity. They had opened so many cars across the tri-county area in the last four days and found nothing that when they opened this one and saw the desecrated remains of their 6-year old victim, Scully had to jam a fist in her mouth to keep from screaming while Mulder snapped his eyes shut, wishing he was somewhere, anywhere else in the world.

Clawing marks, gnawing marks, blood and urine, vomit and decay …

They threw up in tandem beside the car.

Finally back at the police station, autopsy planned for 20 minutes from now, Scully heard a noise loud enough to make her turn around, spot Mulder holding one of the younger officers, Jensen, up against the wall, arm across back of neck, other arm twisted and trapped between the officer’s back and Mulder’s chest. Flying through the mess of desks and half-asleep off duty police, “Mulder?!”

Mulder, three days of terror and fear evident, clenched teeth slurring over his shoulder at her, “he said he was glad to have found that kid ‘cause now he could finally go home.” Ignoring Scully again, he pushed the man harder into the drywall, spit flying out as he hissed out his response, “he doesn’t ever get to go home again so watch your fucking mouth and be glad you have a kid you get to hug at the end of the day.” Letting him go, Mulder walked away, brushing Scully’s trailing hand away and slamming his way out to the parking lot.

The interminable silence hung like gallows rope until the offending officer wiped the side of his face, daring to mumble through his embarrassment, “what an asshole.”

Scully twitched towards him, fists of fury clenched tight, causing Jensen to stumble back, flinching at the tiny woman towering in front of him, “do not and I mean, do not, open your mouth again, do you understand? If I hear one word while I am still in this building, so help me, you will never live down the humiliation of having a 5’3”, 110-pound woman kicking your God-damned ass.”

No one came to defend him, seasoned and rookie officers alike looking in other directions, the lead detective already noting the very long talk he’d be having with Officer Jensen in the very near future.

Then she walked away, heading first outside to find Mulder, then driving over to the hospital for the examination that would force a stop at the liquor store on her way back to the motel.

&&&&&&&&&&&

She was floating in twilight sleep, hearing noises, having dreams, thinking things … and she woke with a gasp, sitting up, looking around in panic, essence of fear still real as she breathed hard, slowed her pounding heart. On the phone a minute later, she first woke up Bill, then Charlie and finally Dave, scaring them all equally with her declaration that she loved them and was glad they were her family. Bill grunted back and hung up … check. Charlie yawned and knowing her work took its toll, simply told her he loved her as well and she was the best pain in the ass that ever happened to him … check. Dave, however, asked her a question, then another, then a third, before he let her ramble for a good five minutes until she ran out of steam, “Dana?”

“Dave?”

Summing up life in two sentences, “I love you and you need to go back to teaching. Get the hell out of field work before it kills you, please?”

“I can’t. I need to do this.”

“No, you don’t. Mulder will be fine if you stop. He’s had this conversation with me, how worried he always is about you and how things are affecting you and I tell you, talk to him.”

Well, now, Dana Scully rendered speechless for a moment before she whispered over the line to Maryland, “I love you … sorry to have woken you up.”

Knowing her too damn well, “you aren’t going to sleep tonight, are you?”

“Probably not but at least I know I can always call you.”

“Yeah … you can. G’night, Day.”

Hanging up, she stared at the ceiling, listening for Mulder’s snores beside her and hearing none, shut her eyes tight, breathing out slow, “how long have you been awake?”

“Since Charlie.”

“And I assume you could hear everything Dave said because you have super hearing and my cousin has an embarrassingly loud voice at times?”

“Yeah.”

Rolling towards him, she slid her hand up his t-shirt, knuckles brushing hard nipple under ratty Abba cotton, “why does this job get harder with every case?”

“Because maybe six years is our limit.”

“I didn’t realize we had a limit.”

Shifting to face her, he moved his leg up, slipping between her knees, thigh against warm junction, hand floating over bare ribs, “we don’t but maybe the job does.”

“Mulder?”

“I wonder when it’ll be time for us to get out of the damn car.”

Melding to him, muddled mind churning, posing the question only possible in the blackest of night, “what if we don’t recognize when the time actually comes?”

“Do you think it’s here now?”

As she circled her finger in the dip of his lower back, fingers half hidden under the elastic of his pajamas, she shook her head, “I don’t think so.”

Thoughts pressed uncomfortably down, darkness solid, air compressed, “then close your eyes and take a nap. I’ll worry enough for the two of us.”

“About what?”

“The terrible possibility that we already missed it.”


End file.
